Female Objectification and Oppression: A Survival Journey

The Color Purple is an interesting novel written by the American author Alice Walker and first published in 1982. The novel reflects upon several themes but among other thins female objectification is most obvious. The book is about Celie who is the protagonist and the narrator of the story. Celie is going through hardship since she is 14 years old as her father, Alphonso, rapes and abuses her. Alphonso impregnates Celie two times and claims to kill the children. Celie grows up and she gets married to Mr._____. Mr._____ wants to marry Nettie, Celie’s younger sister but Alphonso offers Celie instead. Celie goes through another hardship during her marriage life while her sister, Nettie, runs away from Alphonso and takes refuge at Celie’s home. Mr.____ advances on Nettie and she runs away again promising Celie to write to her. Celie is fascinated by Shug Avery, a beautiful lounge singer and a lover of Mr.____. Shug becomes ill and Celie takes care of her, therefore, their relationship gets better with time and Celie becomes sexually attracted to her. Their sexual relationship grows intimately and Celie learns from Shug that Mr.____ is hiding letters from her. Celie learns that those are letters from her sister, Nettie, who she assumed was dead. In the letters, Celie learns that Nettie went with a missionary couple with their adopted children to Africa. Their children are then revealed that they are Celie’s children with Alphonso. Furthermore, Celie learns that Alphonso is not her biological father but rather a stepfather who claimed to be the biological one to inherit her dead mother. Celie and Shug move to Tennessee where Celie starts her business. In the end, Celie and Mr.____ reconcile and start to enjoy each other’s companionship. Nettie returns with her husband, Samuel, and the children to reunite with her sister. 

The Color Purple includes many female characters and starts with exposed and oppressed characters who in the end become stronger than ever. The novel reflects upon female power and therefore, it is interesting to investigate how this theme is reflected upon.

Females are illustrated as oppressed characters at the beginning of the story. Their intersectional oppression is due to several factors such as the protagonist, Celie, who is black, young, abused, raped and her mother is dead. Celie illustrates this in her very first letter to god when she writes about her experience of being abused and raped by her step-father. This happened after her mother gives birth to her sibling and refuses Alphonso. Celie admits this to God as a fourteen years old girl

The Color Purple is based upon female characters who are exposed and oppressed, and in the end, they become stronger than ever. The novel reflects upon oppression, female objectification, and patriarchal society whilst still, female power is developed at the end of the story. The Red Color features the oppression and objectification of females in the patriarchal society which is something applicable in real life. .

Females are illustrated as oppressed characters at the very beginning of the story. Their intersectional oppression is due to several factors such as the protagonist, Celie, who is black, young, abused, raped and her mother is dead. Celie illustrates this in her very first letter to god when she writes about her experience of being abused and raped by her step-father. This happened after her mother gives birth to her sibling and refuses Alphonso. Celie admits this to God as a fourteen years old girl.

”He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it. But I don’t never git used to it. And now I feel sick every time I be the one to cook.” (P.15).

This quote illustrates the hardship and objectification that Celie goes through when she was an abused teenager and raped by her step-father. Alphonso decides and instructs her to get used to the matter, raping, while she can not get used to it. Despite this, she keeps silent and never does what she ought to do. In other words, this quote shows how Celie is in a helpless situation as a young girl with no one to save her, left to her step-father to compensate him for things that her mom does not do. Celie is not the only female who is oppressed in the story; rather almost all female characters are treated in abusive ways in different contexts. 

The hardship and female objectification do not stop there but rather continue and grow when Celie gets married. Mr.____ is no better than Alphonso in treating her; neither is life in her new home. The appearance of Shug at home is the first sign that Celie is getting stronger. She starts to discover herself, at least sexually. This is the first time for Celie to enjoy her sexuality as a female. She dares to do it with Shug. 

”I look at her and touch it with my finger. A little shiver go through me. Nothing much. But just enough to tell me this is the right button to mash. Maybe.” 

This quote explains how Celie could for the first time feel something new about her sexuality, beyond raping and forcing her to have sex with Alphonso. It is the first time that it feels right for her to be there with Shug. Celie in this way starts to come out of her objectification or being treated as a sexual object. She starts to enjoy her sexuality on her terms for the first time. This is an important turning point in the story because this is the first time when Celie does not feel treated as a sexual object by other men.

Female objectification and oppression of females are not limited to Celie, the protagonist of the story, but rather extend to all other female characters. Moreover, this oppression is not only carried out by Alphonso, the abusive stepfather but this is illustrated as a general phenomenon among men in the story. Sofia is beaten by the police after an encounter with the mayor. Above that, she is sentenced to serve as a maid at the mayor’s house  

“When I see Sofia I don’t know why she still alive. They crack her skull, they crack her ribs. They tear her nose loose on one side. They blind her in one eye. She swole from head to foot. Her tongue the size of my arm, it stick out tween her teeth like a piece of rubber. She can’t talk. And she just about the color of a eggplant.” (p.87).

This quote features Celie telling what happened to Sofia after being asked to work as a maid. It is not about the job itself but rather about the oppression that Sofia gets to go through when she refuses. She is obliged to do it, but for free, just because the mayor has the power that he has in town. In other words, another woman is oppressed and abused by another man.

Finally, this story features not only the success of the women that are in the book. It even illustrates a patriarchal society. Despite being a fictional novel, the fact is that events and the ideas are applicable in real life. Women still are objectified as sexual objects and oppressed in different ways. That is female objectification is still represented in society in different ways despite enhancements in the matter of gender equality. It can vary from bieng abused sexually to other ways of oppression which create intersectional oppression for those females.